I guess a question in my original post would help. Also my apologies on the picture. It looked fine on my phone. :) My son likes a stool with a back, but I am thinking a black leather topped stool with no back might be the way to go. If I went for a stool with a back, should I go with a simple black leather look, or try to match the cherry? Thanks, Jo

I don't know if you have done a lot of faux finishes, but bar stools is not a good start for a crackle finish. It would be difficult to explain why but it has to do with the legs and the rounds. I would spray paint bar stools an decidedly different color and no crackle here. I think it not only is very difficult but will bring down the look of your room and devalue what you are trying to accomplish. I don't think that is true of all crackle finishes as they are great in some locations, just not this one. JMHO, flame me, flame me but I think you need to go with a strong other color in solid paint. Do I see black on your frames on the wall? Black will give your room another dimension and bulk it up as it needs that. It will give it the look it deserves.

You did a great job....and great lesson learned to yourself about perfection and expectations. And thanks for sharing your experience with everyone. When are you going to remodel another kitchen? What will you do differently? Sometimes when I get clients that over obsess about selections, I try to refer them to a color specialist interior designer to NOT MAKE their decisions, but to have someone HELP them make their decisions. The small money spent for hourly help on this can be well worth it!!! I once had a client like you...I referred her to a color specialist and they helped her with the paint colors. She was thrilled and said she NEVER would have thought of the color he picked for her walls. Before she hired him, she bought like 10 quarts of paint and made her husband paint cardboard and hang them around the room. I think it just confused her more. Hiring interior design help is like having a personal shopper. My husband can shop for me better than I can for clothes! hahaha. Another job I did, the homeowner wanted white. The brand I carry had a half dozen whites to choose from, but it still wasn't that perfect white that she wanted. She then decided to do a custom color which added 30% to her kitchen. I thought it was crazy. In the end, she didn't love the Sherwin Williams white color she picked. She didn't hate it, but it wasn't exactly the perfect white. Her kitchen was gorgeous....and I hope she let that go and enjoyed it.

its only 2 inches lower and fit my counter height stools it seems ok. I think you will be fine with the 2 inch difference however pick up 1 counter height barstool similar to what you are looking for and test it out and return it if you can’t test the ones you want. If that doesn’t work for you and you need 2 inches shorter get ones with wooden legs and have them cut off. Yes there might be some splintering to sand and exposed wood to color in but once you have them in and in use, you won’t notice. Just make sure to pull the feet to put in the new end, drill a small hole to help. you can buy replacement feet if the others won’t come out. I replaced the plastic ones with a plastic and fabric one.